Jerry Colangelo's voice rarely sounds this way. He is a hard-working optimist, a combination that has allowed him to think big and accomplish big. Friday's event at UNLV's Thomas and Mack Center clearly had him down.

The Indiana Pacers All-Star suffered an open tibia and fibula fracture Friday during a Team USA intrasquad scrimmage. The gruesome injury was devastating to teammates and the game was called. Colangelo and Kryzyewski held a subdued news conference afterward calling for the focus to be on George's recovery and not speculation about the future of the team.

"We need to take a deep breath, step back, let some time go by and gather ourselves," Colangelo said Saturday from Carmel, Calif., where he and his wife Joan have a home.

Colangelo, Krzyzewski and other USA Basketball staff members were expected to meet Friday evening and discuss trimming the roster of the team that will eventually play in the 2016 Summer OIympics in Rio de Janeiro. That meeting was postponed, Colangelo said. The group was not scheduled to get together again until Aug. 13 in Chicago.

The FIBA World Cup is set to be played Aug. 30 through Sept. 14. ...

George's injury will bring out critics who question why the NBA would rent its best players to a national team.

Stop. Now.

When NBA players weren't part of the Olympics Games, many couldn't stop whining about the injustice.

Life happens. A strong voice of support for USA Basketball came from the Pacers, whose 2014-15 postseason hopes suffered a big blow.

"We still support USA Basketball and believe in the NBA's goals of exposing our game, our teams and players worldwide," Pacers president Larry Bird said. "This is an extremely unfortunate injury that occurred on a highly-visible stage, but could also have occurred anytime, anywhere."

No question. And it shouldn't impact how we feel about USA Basketball. …

Mr. B

The past week had to be a feel-good one for Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill.

On Wednesday, Patrick Peterson thanked him for the nice new contract and wished him an early Happy Birthday.

On Thursday, wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd surprised him by stopping at his house with a birthday cake.

And on Saturday, the day Aeneas Williams became the first Cardinals player from the Arizona era to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, Williams also had a guest column run on azcentral.com and in The Republic. It shared this interesting nugget from a game against the Washington Redskins in November of 2000 that was played just before a vote about building a new stadium for the team:

On the first drive, the Redskins were about to score when they fumbled into the end zone and I took it the length of the field for a touchdown. We wound up winning by a point, and I know many people credit that with tilting the stadium vote in the team's favor.

What I remember is that my touchdown was initially scored as a 103-yard return, 1 yard shy of the NFL record. But Mr. B not only insisted that it was really 104 yards, he and Larry Wilson went to Sun Devil Stadium on Monday with a tape measure and asked the league to change it. They did, and to this day I hold the NFL record, so thank you for that, Mr. B.

Tough news in Tempe

Sad news for Arizona State football fans. A Peoria man found shot to death on a trail near Sedona Wednesday has been identified as George Montgomery, 43, a former Arizona State tailback who was team captain in 1993.

Police are asking anyone who was hiking the Bell Trail in Wet Beaver Creek Canyon near Sedona between 6 and 8 p.m. on Wednesday, or who might have any other pertinent information about Montgomery, to call Detective John McDormett at 928-771-3260. …

It has been impressive to watch what Arizona guard Nick Johnson has accomplished since being selected as the 42nd pick overall in the June NBA draft. Reports suggest he will soon sign a fully guaranteed three-year deal with the Houston Rockets. …

Glad to see ASU's Jordan Bachynski sign with Olin Edirne of the Turkish Basketball League. He worked hard in Tempe and deserves an opportunity to keep playing.

Reach Boivin at paola.boivin@ arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/Paola Boivin. Listen to her streaming live on "The Brad Cesmat Show" on sports360az.com every Monday at 10:30 a.m.